PESHAWAR, Nov 9: A local court on Tuesday granted bail to two Algerians allegedly picked up by an intelligence agency more than a year ago on suspicion of having links with Al-Qaeda.

Judicial Magistrate Tufail Ahmad said that the accused detained under the Foreigners Act should be released after furnishing two sureties of Rs50,000 each.

The accused, Abu Al-Gayus and Abu Sufian, are married to Pakistani women in Batkhela (Malakand).

According to their in-laws, they were detained by officials of an intelligence agency last year and their whereabouts were not known.

In May this year they were produced before the court of a judicial magistrate by officials of the Crimes Investigation Department (CID), claiming that they were charged under section 14 of the Foreigners Act as they had been staying illegally in Pakistan.

The in-laws claimed that they had searched for them but could not find them. Finally, they said, they came to know that the two accused had been handed over to the CID by the intelligence agency.

Advocate Fida Gul appeared for the petitioners and contended that they were innocent and were staying legally in Pakistan.

He contended that they had married Pakistani women here and were issued free entry visa by the government of Pakistan.

Mr Gul argued that the said visa was valid till 2012. He contended that till that time their stay in Pakistan was not illegal. He argued that they were entitled to be released on bail.